Urban 15.6mpg running on shell fuel-save nornal unleaded.
Proper drive last weekend though!!....
I had to travel to Germany at short-notice for a funeral and couldn't get flights!
Bearing in mind I live in the North-West of England and the Channel Tunnel is exactly 300 miles from my house, which then leaves a further 350 miles at the other side, it was considered as not to be the best idea I've had with fuel prices they are, but if you've got what I consider the best "continent crusher" at your disposal, or a 60-plate Mitsubishi L200 pick-up to choose from, the sacrifice in expense, compared to comfort and pleasure was always going to be worth every penny
Sunday started early and with the cruise control set at 80mph, made good progress and returned 21.2mpg. Accross the tunnel and into France, changed speedo settings to kph and set cruise at 132kph (mate had his 911 GT3 impounded for speeding last year, so very cautious about this) average mpg static at 21.2mpg. Through Belgium and Holland at similar speeds, mpg hardly changing. Across the German border and onto the Autobahn's (approx 275 miles european roads now travelled) and after a few BMW's and Merc's had cruised past at about 140mph, it was time for a re-fuel and to join them at their own game!! :-0 Traffic was quite busy, but a few blasts to let them know which German manufacturer was best (unfortunately only managed 165mph [270kphh] as couldn't get out of 5th gear, due to traffic) then steadied at a steady 140mph and pulled up at our destination somewhat fly-splattered, but with an average mpg now reduced to 19.3mpg.
Coming home in early, Tuesday morning rush-hour traffic, never presented the opportunity for a blast, so maintained a steady speed of between 80mph and 120mph, pretty much all the way home, this returned an average for the 650 mile journey of 22.1mpg.
Fuel price average in the U.K was 131.9, fuel price in Germany was 162.9 euros!!!
Throughout the trip, I calculated that I disposed of a total of 66 gallons of unleaded, which gave an overall average of approximately 21mpg and cost me in the region of £380. The tunnel crossing cost me £110. I arrived in each direction relaxed and with all my luggage intact, brought home a load of beer and wine, I listened to what I wanted to listen to and even watched a DVD whilst sat on the train. I stopped, drank and ate and toilet breaked when I felt like it. I wasted the opposition on the Autobahn's and in total travelled for approximately 10.5 hours in each direction.
Now the best bit.... "IF" I'd managed to get a flight, they would have been £240 each return (only 2 of us travelled, but normally it's 3) so that would have been £10 cheaper overall, but I would then have had to travel to the airport, pay ridiculous prices for parking and sit around waiting for birds to be cleared from runways, or whatever other excuse they come up with. The flights are scheduled as 2 hour flights, plus the 2 hours you have to be there before you fly, plus the waiting for bags, plus the travel to and from the airport. In a "Top Gear Race" I would guess that the car would have lost by 45 minutes, if I'd have used public transport for the trips to and from the airport, the car would have won by 15 minutes!
Moral of the story!!!!.....
Stop fretting about your "miles per gallon" and enjoy the "Smiles per Gallon" what a fantastic car.....enjoy it, there will never be another!!
